Joy in Croatia as generals return

CHANTING "Victory! Victory!", waving red-and-white chequered flags and dancing in the streets, tens of thousands of jubilant supporters gave two Croatian generals a hero's welcome after a UN war crimes tribunal overturned their convictions of murdering and expelling Serb civilians during a 1995 military blitz.

Croatians viewed the decision to release Ante Gotovina and Mladen Markac as vindication that they were the victims in the Balkan wars in the 1990s, but neighbouring Serbia denounced the ruling as a scandalous injustice toward tens of thousands of its compatriots who were expelled from Croatia after an offensive led by the two.

The deep division over the generals could set back efforts to reconcile the two wartime enemies - the most bitter rivals in the Balkans.

A Croatian government plane carrying Gotovina and Markac from the Hague, The Netherlands, touched down in Zagreb, Croatia's capital, in midafternoon on Friday.

The two were welcomed by Croatia's Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic and other top officials and a red carpet graced the foot of the plane's steps.

"We have won, the war is over and let's turn to the future," Gotovina said as the crowd chanted Croatia's main wartime call, "to war, to war for our people."

The 3-2 majority decision in the UN court's five-judge appeals chamber is one of the most significant reversals in the court's 18-year history. It overturns a verdict that dealt a blow to Croatia's self-image as a victim of atrocities, rather than a perpetrator, during the war.

The ruling triggered scenes of rapture in court and among Croats, but also produced fury in Serbia where it was seen as further evidence of the anti-Serb bias at the UN tribunal. Even liberal Serbs warned the ruling created a sense of injustice and could stir nationalist sentiments.

Serbia's nationalist President Tomislav Nikolic declared the "scandalous" decision by the Hague court was clearly "political and not legal" and "will not contribute to stabilisation of the situation in the region but will reopen all wounds."

Tens of thousands of people, including Croatian war veterans, celebrated in Zagreb's main square. Some sobbed with joy while others ignited flares, sipping beer and drinking wine from bottles.

"Finally, we can say to our children that we are not war criminals," said veteran Djuro Vec. "We fought for justice, and that our fight was righteous and just."

Gotovina and Markac had been sentenced to 24 and 18 years respectively in 2011 for crimes, including the murder and the deportation of Serbs, during the 1995 Croatian offensive dubbed "Operation Storm". Judges ruled that both men were part of a criminal conspiracy led by former Croat President Franjo Tudjman to expel Serbs.

But the appeals judges said prosecutors failed to prove the existence of such a conspiracy, effectively clearing Croatia's entire wartime leadership of war crimes in the operation. It occurred at the end of Croatia's battle to secede from the crumbling Yugoslavia and involved grabbing back land along its border with Bosnia that had earlier been occupied by rebel Serbs.